renhanxue

Chillin':

Also, I found the holy grail:

That's a blueprint for the Krv hull that was actually built. We previously believed all blueprints had been burned back in 1958 but apparently some seem to have survived.
(click for bigger images)

Chillin':

Also, I found the holy grail:

That's a blueprint for the Krv hull that was actually built. We previously believed all blueprints had been burned back in 1958 but apparently some seem to have survived.
(click for bigger images)

Chillin':

Also, I found the holy grail:

That's a blueprint for the Krv hull that was actually built. We previously believed all blueprints had been burned back in 1958 but apparently some seem to have survived.
(click for bigger images)

Chillin':

Also, I found the holy grail:

That's a blueprint for the Krv hull that was actually built. We previously believed all blueprints had been burned back in 1958 but apparently some seem to have survived.
(click for bigger images)

Chillin':

Also, I found the holy grail:

That's a blueprint for the Krv hull that was actually built. We previously believed all blueprints had been burned back in 1958 but apparently some seem to have survived.
(click for bigger images)

TO&E of Swedish armored brigade, 1977; http://tanks.mod16.org/pdf/AH1%20PB%201977.pdf

This nails it.
 
For those who haven't been keeping score:
 
-Gross horsepower is the horsepower the engine can put out on a test stand in a lab.  This is the biggest number, so it gets into glossy marketing brochures.  Diesels are losers here; they don't put out much horsepower relative to weight and bulk.  Gasoline engines usually beat out diesels here, as they usually squeeze out more horsepower for a given displacement.  Turbines beat both.
 
-Net horsepower is the horsepower after you account for losses from the cooling system.  Diesels are winners here; they typically use 8-17% of the engine horsepower to run the cooling system.  Gasoline engines are losers here; they can use upwards of 20% of their gross horsepower to cool the engine.  Turbines are huge winners here; basically none of their gross output is consumed by auxiliary cooling systems.  Adiabatic diesels would equal turbines in this parameter (and would clobber turbines, or anything else for that matter, in fuel economy), but sadly these exist only in Toyota laboratories covered in a thick layer of dust.
 
-Horsepower at the sprocket is the power available to actually move the tank after the losses of the transmission and final drives.  For the very best transmission designs at peak operating efficiency, this is about 74% of gross horsepower.  
 
Purely mechanical transmissions with layshaft gearboxes (e.g. T-55) are winners here, but these are more demanding for the driver (especially since the T-55 lacks hydraulically boosted tillers or a synchromesh).  Transmissions with torque converters are less efficient, but torque converters reduce wear on the engine and transmission, and give smoother power when the tank is moving over uneven terrain.  The majority of post-war tank designs feature torque converters save the ubiquitous T-54/55/62 family (and the Soviets were quite aware of, and enthusiastic about the potential benefits).  
 
Planetary transmissions (whether automatic as in American designs or with manual gear selectors as in chieftain) are less efficient, but are easier for the driver to use, and have the advantage that gear changes are basically instantaneous, without any pause where there is no power being delivered to the sprockets during gear shifts.  This is a significant advantage during, say, hill climbing.  
 
Electrical and hydrostatic transmissions are even less efficient than automatic transmissions with torque converters, but they have the advantage that they are continuously variable, lacking discrete gear ratios, so they can optimize torque and RPM for given conditions.  They also allow some flexibility in tank design, since power does not have to be provided to the transmission by a rotating power shaft.  You could put the drive sprockets in the front and have their transmission and final drives powered by electrical cables or hydraulic lines that could snake gracefully around the turret basket and not significantly increase the hull height.  I can't imagine why you would ever want to do this, but you could.

Did someone say Draken?
 

 

 
 
 

http://tanks.mod16.org/2015/04/02/report-from-british-strv-103-trials-at-the-baor-1973/
 
May be entertaining reading to some of you.

I think a lot of people start thinking in the wrong direction when they read the title of the article.  What he's describing is not a pattern unique to the labyrinthine and inscrutable Oriental mind.  Compare the sorts of political considerations he describes to, say, Nazi Germany and you see the same patterns.  Duplication of military services because the government distrusts them?  Check.  Political loyalty, independent of competence a major factor in promotions?  Check.  Paranoid leader who tries to play underlings off each other because they're afraid they might be plotting a coup?  Check.

Don't know if anyone here reads German/is interested, but as far as I can tell this is the original manual for the Leichttraktor: http://tanks.mod16.org/pdf/leichttraktor.pdf
 
Found in the national archives by accident while poking around a few of gigantic boxes of photonegatives on glass plates from the 20's and 30's. I think it's Heigl's (of Taschenbuch der Tanks fame) photo collection, at least most of the boxes are marked with his name. Don't know what to do with it, there's thousands of photos of interwar tanks, mostly from Britain and France, and I have no idea if they're rare or not.

Yeap, that's me! I'm also Ren Hanxue on YouTube and renhanxue on tanknet, but that's probably obvious.

You're doing some seriously cool stuff, it's a shame that people aren't as interested in Swedish armour as they are in the major players' (or rather as they are in hearing that the Tiger was super duper from the History Channel for the millionth time).

Yeap, that's me! I'm also Ren Hanxue on YouTube and renhanxue on tanknet, but that's probably obvious.

Don't know if anyone here reads German/is interested, but as far as I can tell this is the original manual for the Leichttraktor: http://tanks.mod16.org/pdf/leichttraktor.pdf
 
Found in the national archives by accident while poking around a few of gigantic boxes of photonegatives on glass plates from the 20's and 30's. I think it's Heigl's (of Taschenbuch der Tanks fame) photo collection, at least most of the boxes are marked with his name. Don't know what to do with it, there's thousands of photos of interwar tanks, mostly from Britain and France, and I have no idea if they're rare or not.

Don't know if anyone here reads German/is interested, but as far as I can tell this is the original manual for the Leichttraktor: http://tanks.mod16.org/pdf/leichttraktor.pdf
 
Found in the national archives by accident while poking around a few of gigantic boxes of photonegatives on glass plates from the 20's and 30's. I think it's Heigl's (of Taschenbuch der Tanks fame) photo collection, at least most of the boxes are marked with his name. Don't know what to do with it, there's thousands of photos of interwar tanks, mostly from Britain and France, and I have no idea if they're rare or not.

Don't know if anyone here reads German/is interested, but as far as I can tell this is the original manual for the Leichttraktor: http://tanks.mod16.org/pdf/leichttraktor.pdf
 
Found in the national archives by accident while poking around a few of gigantic boxes of photonegatives on glass plates from the 20's and 30's. I think it's Heigl's (of Taschenbuch der Tanks fame) photo collection, at least most of the boxes are marked with his name. Don't know what to do with it, there's thousands of photos of interwar tanks, mostly from Britain and France, and I have no idea if they're rare or not.

Don't know if anyone here reads German/is interested, but as far as I can tell this is the original manual for the Leichttraktor: http://tanks.mod16.org/pdf/leichttraktor.pdf
 
Found in the national archives by accident while poking around a few of gigantic boxes of photonegatives on glass plates from the 20's and 30's. I think it's Heigl's (of Taschenbuch der Tanks fame) photo collection, at least most of the boxes are marked with his name. Don't know what to do with it, there's thousands of photos of interwar tanks, mostly from Britain and France, and I have no idea if they're rare or not.

http://tanks.mod16.org/2015/04/09/report-from-terrain-trials-with-t-80u/
 
reports for the reports god

A friend got this declassified recently. There's a test report that goes with it too that he hasn't scanned yet, will translate and post as soon as he does.

Being lazy about translating that report, but have a T-72 in the meantime.
 

Being lazy about translating that report, but have a T-72 in the meantime.
 

Clearly the archives staff were paid off to hide the shame of inferior Western tanks losing out to glorious socialism.

A friend got this declassified recently. There's a test report that goes with it too that he hasn't scanned yet, will translate and post as soon as he does.

A friend got this declassified recently. There's a test report that goes with it too that he hasn't scanned yet, will translate and post as soon as he does.